'We killed BBC reporter', Palestinian group says
Palestinian Jihad and Tawheed Brigades say Alan Johnston has been executed, blame British, Palestinian governments
BBC reporter Alan Johnston has been killed by an al-Qaeda affilated Palestinian organization, according to an internet statement obtained by Ynetnews.
The statement was signed by the Palestinian Jihad and Tawheed Brigades, an organization named after an Iraqi al-Qaeda group.
Responding to the statement, the BBC said it is "aware of these reports -- but we have no independent verification of them. We are deeply concerned about what we are hearing -- but we stress, at this stage, it is rumour with no independent verification."
In the message, the group said the British and Palestinian governments were responsible for Johnston's killing, and vowed to release a video of the execution.
"The whole world knows of our just cause in demanding the release of our prisoners, who are waiting under the fire of the occupation," the statement began. "Our demand was that all of those who are responsible for the journalist... release our prisoners who are being held in the prisons of the occupation," it continued.
"The whole world made so much noise about this foreign journalist, while it took no action over our thousands of prisoners," the declaration said.
"Our objective was to broadcast a clear message, and we were surprised by the position of the Palestinian Authority, which attempted to hide the case as much as it could and to present the case in an untruthful manner, leading us unfortunately to kill the journalist so that our message is understood," the declaration continued.
"We will disseminate a video in which we show his killing soon to the media outlets," the statement said.
"And we lay the responsibility on the the PA presidency, Palestinian government, and the British government for the blood of the its journalist son. And we confirm that our demands for the release of our prisoners in the occupation jails still stands. We will not relent until we release them all, free and dignified," the message added.
"Allah is great, for it is either victory or martyrdom," it concluded.
Joseph Nasr contributed to this report
